[Mariachi]

All this talk about alternate sources....most of which require oil to manufacture & transport.
Well, how about manpower ? For most of the history of humanity, we relied on manpower to get everything done. Sure, life wasn't all that great. It was hard work and the casualties were high. But this is exactly where we are going once again. Think of how the natives used to live in North America 500 years ago. Life will be similar to that 500 years from now. Talk of the end of oil causing the extinction of humanity is ridiculous. Millions of humans around the world today survive without using oil in any form. Sure, their life isn't easy. But life was not meant to be easy. We are just another animal meant to live off the earth's resources and work for everything we need. The casualities will be high at first. Then the natural world will start to regenerate. Animals will become abundant once again, water will become clean. What humans truly need to survive - just food, water & shelter - will be available. Human numbers will stay in check, controlled by disease and the things that controlled human population for millions of years. The population explosion witnessed over the last 150 years will never occur again, since this explosion has been enabled by - you guessed it - oil.
End of oil won't be pretty. But humans will survive (at least until earth gets hit by an asteroid, burned up by the sun, or sucked into a black hole)

[azreal60]

Short of nuclear war, I don't think anyone on this board who is rational is saying mankind will go extinct. That as you say, is just not possible.

What is possible is a large reduction in numbers. I think 4 billion people dying would be pretty bad don't you? Anytime that is the worst case senario, that's a problem that makes me sit up and take notice.

[pea-jay]

If we have to rely solely on man power, we are in real deep doo-doo. The amount of energy provided to us by fossil fuels is simply staggering.

[cynthia]

I am responding to the human powered concept mentioned in this thread.
For sometime now, my Honey and I were planning to travel the US in either a converted school bus or van. Then PO awareness hit and I thought, Damn, there goes that idea.
But the other day I read of an older couple (we're in our late 40's) they were at least in their 60's who frequently travel from state to state on their bicycles. I said, Why not us? And My Honey was for it.
This will require less money output-especially since we plan to camp along the way. It will get us into shape really fast and we'll see much more than we would behind glass and a vehicle bombing the backroads at 60mph.
Certainly where we go and the timing of these trips will be determined by what is happening by the time we are ready to embark on our adventures. We're looking at 2-3 years before starting. For now we'll plan some short trips to get our bicycling system down.

I also had this idea of a side-by-side bicycling unit so we could chat more easily. This would have limited road applicability, no? I suppose there would be more options if each of us had our own bikes. And there's always the chat time around the campfire at night.
It's fun to think about and makes the future look a little brighter.

[savethehumans]

Have fun, you two!

[Devil]

Just a little thought to put things into a graphical perspective.

An average man/woman can sustain generating the equivalent of about 100 W of muscle power for an hour (athletes more, of course, but Mr/Mrs average is not an athlete). A mid-sized car has an engine capable of generating 100-150 kW peak/30 kW average (including the energy required to run all the accessories).

You would therefore need at least 1,000 guys to accelerate uphill with the pedal to the floorboards and more than 300 for average driving. And you would have to change them after an hour, with possibly 8 teams alternating. That's a lot of people to commute one guy to work!

[frankthetank]

Or we commute in this:



which was clocked @ 73mph...not bad for a 100+watts.

[The_Virginian]

Life will be similar to that 500 years from now.

Or maybe 150 Years before...

Yep raise the next gen to be BIG n burly...they will need the muscle power.

As for Encapsulated bikes...just how long can you keep up at that pace? Are you as strong as the athalete setting world records? How much groceries can the thing carry, and still go a reasonable speed?

Ah heck , it's still "cool" in a geeky way.

[Aedo]

Cycle touring is FANTASTIC! You travel at a human relative speed and can take in all your surroundings but are travelling fast enough to make reasonable progress.

I also had this idea of a side-by-side bicycling unit so we could chat more easily. This would have limited road applicability, no? I suppose there would be more options if each of us had our own bikes.

Definitely better to have two bikes and side by side riding is OK on some roads, but for easy conversation you can get personal two way radios that fit into helmets - designed for motorcycles but I'm sure you can adapt them for bicycle use - these radio systems should allow you to easily talk even if separated by a mile or so.

[Wildwell]

All this talk about alternate sources....most of which require oil to manufacture & transport.
Well, how about manpower ? For most of the history of humanity, we relied on manpower to get everything done. Sure, life wasn't all that great. It was hard work and the casualties were high. But this is exactly where we are going once again. Think of how the natives used to live in North America 500 years ago. Life will be similar to that 500 years from now. Talk of the end of oil causing the extinction of humanity is ridiculous. Millions of humans around the world today survive without using oil in any form. Sure, their life isn't easy. But life was not meant to be easy. We are just another animal meant to live off the earth's resources and work for everything we need. The casualities will be high at first. Then the natural world will start to regenerate. Animals will become abundant once again, water will become clean. What humans truly need to survive - just food, water & shelter - will be available. Human numbers will stay in check, controlled by disease and the things that controlled human population for millions of years. The population explosion witnessed over the last 150 years will never occur again, since this explosion has been enabled by - you guessed it - oil.
End of oil won't be pretty. But humans will survive (at least until earth gets hit by an asteroid, burned up by the sun, or sucked into a black hole)

Several errors, first humans tended to use animals, and water/wind power not their own power. Next coal and the steam engine began the industrial revolution, not oil. Third it's highly unlikely unless you killed everyone and destroyed all knowledge and artefacts we would go back to that state of affairs, humans by their nature tend to like to improve their lot.

[nocar]

Cynthia, our (hubby and me and three kids) best vacations have always been camping by bike. (well perhaps next best, canoeing in Canada perhaps even better) We have brought tents and cooking gear, in Sweden and Denmark. With usually some child rather small we have not gone very far (when they turn teen-agers, camping with parents is no longer fun), but our son has as an adult with a friend travelled about 500 km in week. Sleeping in a tent.

One thing - count on getting hungry, find the "all-you-can-eat" places, and always keep reserve rations. Water is essential. And get started in small way - why not make a two-day trip next week-end? Ask local people if they know where you can pitch a tent - they might offer their own lawn. I actually have not tried bicycle camping in the USA, but almost 50 yrs ago we went backpacking-hitchhiking in Colorado and people let us camp on their lawn.

It usually takes a while to find a place to pitch a tent, and there is a lot of packing and unpacking. You probably can go farther if you stay in motels, but we have always liked camping and sometimes you find wonderful spots.

nocar